Carol Rice: Gender and the Stories We Tell Ourselves

Many families have trouble addressing the topics of gender and identity. This episode is a recording of a speech given by Carol Rice (one of the contributors of thefamilyproclomation.org) about how to address these topics and how to combat the enticing narratives of the world. 

The speech begins at 2:13, where Carol reminds us that even though we may have the same vocabulary as the world, we are operating with different dictionaries for words like “love” and “accept.” She demonstrates that the stories we tell ourselves are powerful (5:30) before diving into three separate misleading narratives we may be telling ourselves about the topics of gender and identity. The first narrative (9:58) explores thoughts like “If I don’t accept then I must hate” and “all I can do is be loving.” Carol suggests a new way to write that story which says “I can be loving, because I can discern the difference between divine love and counterfeit love.” The second narrative (21:48) Carol explores is “It’s not my place to judge.” She reminds us that Heavenly Father showed us the right way to make judgments in Moroni 7. The third story we tell ourselves (27:30) is similar to the first: “I need to affirm and support other’s decisions.” During this section she invites a previous podcast guest, Blake Fisher, to share his thoughts about descriptive labels vs. prescriptive labels. Carol concludes (40:27) by sharing some thoughts about healing and reminding us that we all fit into Christ’s story.

To learn more, visit TheFamilyProclamation.org